39 Democrats break with the White House to vote for GOP health-care fix

Thirty-nine House Democrats broke with the White House on Friday, backing a Republican plan intended to allow people to keep their health insurance in the face of a growing number of cancellations.

The bill, sponsored by Michigan Republican Rep. Fred Upton, comes in response to the large number of people who have had their policies canceled due to the new Obamacare requirements, in spite of President Barack Obama’s promise that people who liked their plans could keep them.

The Upton plan would allow insurance companies to continue offering plans that do not meet the minimum coverage requirements under Obamacare for one year.

The bill would allow insurance companies to provide those plans not only to people who are currently on them and with to keep them, but to individuals looking to purchase a new plan.

That has raised objections from many Democrats, including the president, who promised to veto the bill if it made it to his desk. In a statement Thursday, the White House called it a “major step back,” intended to “sabotage the health care law.”

The White House offered its own administrative fix Thursday to stop the cancellations and make good on Obama’s promise. In an apologetic speech, Obama said insurers could continue insuring people on the health-care plans that they had now for one more year, without being penalized for offering plans that did not meet the health-care law requirements. The fix would not permit companies to sell those plans to people who are not already on them.

Democrats have expressed increasing amounts of frustration about the troubled rollout of Obamacare in recent days. Already, Democrats who face re-election next year have come under attack over the health-care law and the promises that were made regarding keeping policies, promises that a number of Democrats repeated.

On the Senate side, two bills have been proposed to allow people to keep their plans. A bill by Louisiana Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu, who faces a tough campaign in a red state, would allow people to keep those canceled policies indefinitely.

A bill from Colorado Democratic Sen. Mark Udall, who is also up for re-election, would allow people to keep those plans for two years. Landrieu called Obama’s fix a good “first step,” but said she would continue to push forward with her bill.